Our appointment was scheduled for 10:30 AM. We live in the ‘burbs and decided against driving into the city as there was some kind of major filming scheduled to take place in lower Manhattan for one of Will Smith’s upcoming movies. That together with rush hour traffic is a recipe for gridlock. We drove to and parked by Newark Penn station at about 9:30. From there we hopped on the PATH to World Trade Center station, arriving at about 10 AM.
The entire station was rebuilt anew on the ruins of the WTC, and is an absolute marvel to behold. We walked over to the chain link fence and took a moment to say a prayer, as the hundreds of construction vehicles worked noisily below - rebuilding, rebuilding.
We then made our way to the massive federal building a few blocks away. We cleared security, took the elevator to the proper floor, and handed in our interview notice at the counter. We were told to take a seat and wait for our names to be called, while being advised there could be up to a 3 hour wait. Oh well, what can you do.
Took a seat and looked at my watch: 10:30 on the nose.
The waiting room was quite big, full of all different kinds of people. Couples, families; some with lawyers, some without.
At 11:30, we were called up. A genuinely friendly, warm, older gentleman escorted us through the maze of hallways to his corner office, and told us to get comfortable and remove our coats. He then swore us in. He asked to look at my passport, my birth certificate, my wife’s passport, and the marriage certificate. All the while, we were making relaxed small talk regarding everything from the War on Terror, to Canadian winters.
We also spent about 10 minutes talking about the pictures on his wall of his kids, two of whom are serving in the military; one in the navy, one in the air force. God bless ‘em.
He then asked me a few of the questions on the form. He prefaced the polygamy question with “Now I’m just asking this because your wife asked me to”. He then asked a few more, after which he took out a thick folio from one of his drawers with pictures of wanted criminals and terrorists, and pretended to seriously be rifling through it for a few seconds, saying, “hmm, you don’t look like him… hmm, him neither”.
Finally he said, “Seems to me there are no problems here. I am convinced this is a legitimate marriage. Everything is in order - your name check is complete. I like to approve my cases on Friday, so unless anything occurs to me between now and then, and what is the likelihood of that happening? *wink* *wink*, you should have your card within a few weeks.”
We then shook hands, and he escorted us to the elevators.
The entire station was rebuilt anew on the ruins of the WTC, and is an absolute marvel to behold. We walked over to the chain link fence and took a moment to say a prayer, as the hundreds of construction vehicles worked noisily below - rebuilding, rebuilding.
We then made our way to the massive federal building a few blocks away. We cleared security, took the elevator to the proper floor, and handed in our interview notice at the counter. We were told to take a seat and wait for our names to be called, while being advised there could be up to a 3 hour wait. Oh well, what can you do.
Took a seat and looked at my watch: 10:30 on the nose.
The waiting room was quite big, full of all different kinds of people. Couples, families; some with lawyers, some without.
At 11:30, we were called up. A genuinely friendly, warm, older gentleman escorted us through the maze of hallways to his corner office, and told us to get comfortable and remove our coats. He then swore us in. He asked to look at my passport, my birth certificate, my wife’s passport, and the marriage certificate. All the while, we were making relaxed small talk regarding everything from the War on Terror, to Canadian winters.
We also spent about 10 minutes talking about the pictures on his wall of his kids, two of whom are serving in the military; one in the navy, one in the air force. God bless ‘em.
He then asked me a few of the questions on the form. He prefaced the polygamy question with “Now I’m just asking this because your wife asked me to”. He then asked a few more, after which he took out a thick folio from one of his drawers with pictures of wanted criminals and terrorists, and pretended to seriously be rifling through it for a few seconds, saying, “hmm, you don’t look like him… hmm, him neither”.
Finally he said, “Seems to me there are no problems here. I am convinced this is a legitimate marriage. Everything is in order - your name check is complete. I like to approve my cases on Friday, so unless anything occurs to me between now and then, and what is the likelihood of that happening? *wink* *wink*, you should have your card within a few weeks.”
We then shook hands, and he escorted us to the elevators.
